These days it’s hard to go anywhere without running into a budding rocker sporting swept bangs, girl jeans, and a guitar case covered in stickers from bands like Thursday and Taking Back Sunday. In other words, like it or not, emo* is here to stay—and since it’s going to be around for a while, we’ve run down some of the genre’s crucial releases because if you’re going to look the part then you should probably know what you’re talking about too.
(*Note: “Emo” is an inherently subjective term and these are just the albums we like. If you disagree, feel free to post a thread about how lame we are on your favorite message board.)
Rites of Spring End On End (Dischord, 1991) — It’s a widely accepted fact that although they weren’t crazy about the term, the D.C. post-hardcore act Rites of Spring were the first true emo band. As the precursor to Fugazi, Rites of Spring combined frenzied guitars and drumming with frontman Guy Picciotto’s heartfelt vocals to create a brand of music that’s evolved (and some would say co-opted) to become what most of us think of today when we hear the word “emo.”
Sunny Day Real Estate Diary (Sub Pop, 1994) — If we had to pick one album that defined the nascent emo sound of the ’90s it’d have to be Sunny Day Real Estate’s Diary. Paramore have been covering SDRE on their latest tour—and that makes total sense once you hear Jeremy Enigk’s falsetto-fueled vocals soar toward the stratosphere, backed by chunky guitars and propulsive drumming. Oh, and if you’re looking for a definitive emo anthem, it doesn’t get much better than “In Circles.”
Lifetime Hello Bastards (Jade Tree, 1995) — Lifetime may have come out of the East Coast hardcore scene, but the melodic sound they pioneered on their full-length Hello Bastards would change the way people thought of emo from then on. Sure, Ari Katz’s nasal delivery may have been hard to decipher at first, but that ultimately didn’t matter. It was the infectious melody—not the lyrics—that drove songs like “Rodeo Clown” and made it okay to be sensitive in the mosh pit for the next generation of hardcore enthusiasts.
Weezer Pinkerton (DGC, 1996) — When Weezer released their sophomore album in 1996, it was considered a critical and commercial flop, largely due to the fact that frontman Rivers Cuomo eschewed the band’s power-pop sound in favor of a collection of angular paeans to lost love and, yes, lesbians. However in the years since its release, Pinkerton has struck a chord with listeners who embraced Cuomo’s unconventional approach—and these days the album is rightfully deemed an emo cult classic.
The Get Up Kids Four Minute Mile (Doghouse, 1997) — We’ll be the first to admit that the Get Up Kids’ full-length debut Four Minute Mile isn’t a sonically flawless album: The guitars sound like they were recorded in a dumpster, frontman Matt Pryor’s voice cracks like a pubescent teen, and the bass is so buried in the mix that it’s often difficult to hear at all. However, these idiosyncrasies are part of what make Four Minute Mile sound as urgent today and it did when it was recorded over a decade ago. That said, if you don’t have this disc yet, we recommend springing for the remastered version.
Modest Mouse The Lonesome Crowded West (Up Records, 1997) — Before Modest Mouse wrote “Float On” and were covered on Kidz Bop compilations by children, they were a scrappy indie rock band who sang about truck stops, cowboys named Dan, and highway signs. In fact, songs like “Long Distance Drunk” are obviously influenced by frontman Isaac Brock’s major literary influence Charles Bukowski, whose own two vices were alcohol and women. It doesn’t get much more emo than that, people.
Saves The Day Can’t Slow Down (Equal Vision, 1998) — When Saves The Day’s debut disc dropped a decade ago, many people wrote them off as a Lifetime rip-off, but the fact of the matter was that Saves The Day took Lifetime’s brand of melodic punk to the next level with their full-length debut. Frontman Chris Conley fastened his heart tightly on his sleeve on songs like “Handsome Boy”—and although they’ve significantly evolved their sound since Can’t Slow Down, this type of emotive soul-bearing has been the secret to making Saves The Day one of the longest-running emo acts out there.
Jimmy Eat World Clarity (Capitol, 1999) — Clarity should have been the album that broke Jimmy Eat World, but their record label at the time botched things so badly that they wouldn’t become a commercial smash until their subsequent self-titled disc. That said, Clarity still contains some of the band’s strongest songs to date, and their tune “A Sunday” is occasionally covered by Paramore, which seems to be the hallmark of a true emo classic these days.
The Promise Ring Very Emergency (Jade Tree, 1999) — Most people will insist that the Promise Ring’s 1996 debut 30° Everywhere is the band’s shining release, but with Very Emergency they added a pop sheen to their angular post-punk compositions, allowing the band to craft an emo album accessible to people not familiar with the band’s labelmates like Lifetime or Texas Is the Reason.
At The Drive-In Relationship of Command (Grand Royal, 2000) — While it’s up for debate whether Relationship of Command is technically an emo release, it seems like every single person who heard it eventually started an emo band. Fueled by current Mars Volta vocalist Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s on-stage acrobatics and guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s innovative post-punk axe work, the band became known in some circles as the “best live band on Earth” and their swansong Relationship of Command is their most fully realized release to date, even if the lyrics do sound more informed by Benzedrine than break-ups.